Are You A Shape?
Are You A Shape? is the third episode of ObjectTales. Plot In the first story, which is an adaptation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (In the styles of both Dr. Seuss and A. A. Milne), Jerry the Clock lives in the city of Flibber-o-loo, where everybody wears shoes on their heads. Tom-Tom Cup lives in Jibber-de-Lot where everyone wears pots on their heads. Flibber-o-loo and Jibber-de-Lot fight by throwing pots and shoes at each other. Living the city, Jerry is attacked by bandits who rob and leave him upside down in a hole. Both the mayor of Flibber-o-loo (Reznov Teapot) and a Flibbian doctor (Lovey Teapot) come upon Jerry, but claim, in song, to be too busy to help. Soon after, Tom-Tom comes along and helps Jerry out of the hole, despite the differences of their people. After seeing the kind act of a supposed enemy, the mayor decides that Flibber-o-loo and Jibber-de-Lot should no longer fight. Now, instead of fighting, the two cities throw flowers and candy to each other. In the second story (which parodies the 1960's tv series Star Trek), Tom-Tom tells Dad Teapot that he is not going to invite a new kid, Fernando, to his birthday party because he thinks that this boy is weird. Mario and Jerry arrive in their small ship and take Tom-Tom Cup to the Starship Applepies, having discovered the ship is in the path of a giant meteor. Upon arriving, they discover that the power to the ship is out. While the ship's engineer (Stooler) frantically works to fix the ship's engines, Tom-Tom suggests that two oddball crewmen (Jimmy and Jerry Spraycan) help save the ship when it is determined that the meteor is in fact a giant popcorn ball. Rocketed into space, the pair eat the meteor before it can collide with the ship. Tom-Tom and the entire crew celebrate and then sing a song about the importance of friendship despite people's differences. Tom-Tom, after being returned home by Mario and Jerry, tells his Dad that he has reconsidered and will invite Fernando to his party despite how different he is. Trivia * This is the first episode for several things: ** The first appearance of The Pillow, Stooler, Debby-Diana, Larry, their dad, Jimmy and Jerry Spraycan. ** The first episode Bob Smith worked on. ** The first to feature Mario and Jerry's current voices. ** The first episode not to have "Neptune" in the title. ** The first episode to have high quality sound and audio, contrast to the previous two. ** The first episode not to have John, Ma or Rosie Vase since their debut appearances. ** The first episode to be made by Lyrick Studios in 1997. * This is also the last episode for several things: ** The last appearance of Henry the Broom ** The last episode to have two story segments until King Thomas and the Chicken. ** The last classic ObjectTales episode to be released on DVD. * The inspiration for the shoes being on the citizens of Flibber-o-Loo's heads' was inspired by the 1985 film Brazil which features a group of women wearing hats with upside down shoes on them. Lovey's hat is the closest to resembling the ones shown in the film. * According to the DVD rom feature, the scripts for the two stories were written in 1994. * Some scenes on the "Flibber-O-Loo" segment were rendered in a different frame rate as stated by Quinn and Zack. This was done with a process called "field rendering". * This is Pa Vase's second appearance on the show. Here, he was featured in The Razor Song. * According to the 2002 "Silly Snow Day" product catalog, the DVD was originally planned to be released in 2003 but cancelled for reasons unknown (likely a result of Big Hive's bankruptcy). The commentary referring to Square of the Opera as an upcoming show hints that it was planned to be released in 2004 around the same time as the DVD releases for Neptune Wants Me to Understand Them!?!, Clock-Man! and the Goo from Planet Mars! and Clock-Man and the Ferocious Piglet before being shelved once more until it's eventual release in 2006. * Jimmy and Jerry can breathe in space, despite not wearing any helmets. * The audio for recent releases are different than in the original. This includes the classic Star Trek door opening SFX being omitted. * Quinn Vischer stated on the DVD commentary that the scene where the spaceship comes out of the USS Applepies to take Tom-Tom back home after the song "I can be your friend" was so hard to render that he ended up working out all the kinks himself until it could render properly. * According to the audio commentary on Ian and the Giant Sock Puppet, Quinn Vischer has stated that the space environment, along with the desert environment, was the easiest environment to create at the time. * The verse was actually Leviticus 19:18b, which they dropped out the part about revenge despite not stating it. * The table, despite losing one leg, still stands. * Mario said that Jibber-de-lot would look down at the shoe people, but the towns are actually the same height. * Play-Doh is a modeling compound used by young children for arts and craft. It's pretty much a child's version of molding clay. * Jell-O is a trademark of Kraft Foods for varieties of gelatin. * "The Story of Flibber-o-Loo" would be used at the end of A Nozzle's Tale. * There's a later episode where they spoof Star Trek. Goofs * In the original version of the scene after Jerry turns the power back, the whole entire ship lights up. However the next scene with Stooler, the lights were still dimmed prior to the power being turned on. This was somewhat fixed when the story was repackaged for Neptune Made You Special, where they adjusted the brightness. * In the original Word Entertainment print of this episode (the version widely sold at Christian bookstores before the more well-known mass market Lyrick tapes came about), there was animation error that was fixed later on. During the "Love Your Shape" song, after Tom-Tom finishes the first verse, the other three gather in to sing a vocal-only segment; this was originally much more roughly animated, with Jerry popping into view on the right before starting to walk in and the other two rushing in to make it in time for the verse to start. The reprint altered this so it was a bit more clean-looking, and this change stuck for every release after. * There are a few instances where the characters' pupils clip through their eyelids. These include: ** Tom-Tom when he gets started by Mario and Jerry. ** Mario when his eyes are in closeup. * In the scene where Mario and Jerry take Tom-Tom back home in the second segment, you'll notice the shadow of the spaceship is stuck on the wall near the window before heading out the window. * One shot shows Jerry clipping through his seat. * One shot shows Jerry without his headset, and he has it in the next shot. * During the end of the second segment, when Mario and Jerry come back to Tom-Tom for directions for the freeway, the lights on the spaceship don't light up on Tom-Tom face.